The present invention relates generally to the art of marking locations on various bodies of water, and in particular to the art of buoy markers used in lakes or reservoirs. Marker buoys may be used for numerous purposes such as marking underwater hazards, navigation channels, water skiing courses, specific lakeshore locations, or spots where salvaging is to take place. Other marking techniques using various types of floating devices (such as a bleach bottle, cork float, wooden debris, etc.) anchored to the bottom in some fashion have been used in the past with variable success, but are generally considered to be inconvenient or impractical. Some fisherman attempt to use distant reference points to determine their location on a body of water through triangulation and dead reckoning, however this technique is limited to a skilled few and is difficult to use effectively. Commercially available marker buoys are used effectively for marking a desired location, but they are limited in their usefulness, in that they are intended for single purposes only.
In this art it is desirable for fisherman to maintain their position on a body of water. For fishing purposes, being at the right location on a lake or reservoir very often makes the difference between a successful fishing trip and returning home empty-handed. A common problem associated with using marker buoys is that once a marker buoy is deployed, it often attracts other fishermen to that same location, thereby creating unwanted competition for the initial fisherman. Individuals have attempted to make their marker buoys less visible by painting them black, for example, which makes the buoy less visible at a distance. However, this renders the buoy permanently less visible, and therefore unusable if the fisherman does wish to view the buoy at a greater distance.
Maintaining a position on the water is even more difficult when attempting to do so at night. For night fishing, a different sort of buoy has been used to mark one's desired location on a body of water. This has been accomplished by using a floating candle, lantern, flashlight or some other source of light to illuminate the spot where one wishes to designate a particular location. Until now, there have been no multi-purpose buoys available which are, due to their inherent reversible nature, able to serve as both a day marker buoy and a night marker buoy, as well as a less conspicuous day buoy which doesn't attract other fishermen.
The present invention represents a major advance in the art of marking a location on a body of water, since until now fisherman have not been able to select the degree of visibility of the buoy depending upon which end of the buoy they choose to expose, nor have they been able to mark their position on a lake, either day or night, with the same buoy. This invention, comprised of two ends, one clear with a light in it, and the other brightly colored, is reversible and allows fishermen to choose which end they wish to expose, depending upon the fishing conditions at the time. The reversible nature of this buoy is what separates it from other marker buoys and allows it to be used with a unique degree of flexibility.
A disclosure document has been filed in the U.S. Patent Office on Aug. 6, 1992 under receipt number 314612.